Path to Sanctuary
by mpcp13
Summary: TAKARI.Hikari is a princess of the besieged Ambloni Empire.Takeru is part of a freelance group assigned to take her to safety.Completed.Please R&R.
1. The End of Peace

Author's Note: This is my second fan fic. It's a Takari(again) that started out as a medieval fic until I changed my mind and added a sci-fi twist. Please read and review, constructive criticism accepted while flames will be used to barbecue rats (mmm, rats).  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.  
  
Character Ages: Iori-19; Takeru, Hikari, Daisuke-21; Ken, Miyako-22; Taichi, Yamato, Sora, Mimi-25; Jyou, Koushiro-26  
  
Story Title: Path to Sanctuary  
  
Chapter Title: The End of Peace  
  
Shuttle White Wolf, Maltek Space Port  
  
Yamato Ishida felt sweat trickle down his brow as he maneuvered the shuttle into the hangar. He wasn't sweating because he had difficulty piloting the shuttle, far from it piloting was instinctive to him. No, he was sweating because the ship's cabin temperature was a sweltering 20C (68F). Well, at least to a Dbrojan like him, his Ambloni and Nason companions found the temperature chilly and were shivering slightly.  
He drove the shuttle the hangar & gently settled it down. His Ambloni boss, Koushiro, stood up and motioned for Yamato's brother to follow him. Takeru Takaishi, Yamato's brother, stood up from his co-pilot's chair and followed, he served as the boss' bodyguard.  
Yamato turned to look at the smiling face of his brother. To many people, Takeru seemed unusually cheerful, especially since most Dbrojan seldom smiled. But Takeru was almost always smiling, giving the false impression that he was cheerful.  
But Yamato knew what his brother's smile concealed. He saw it clearly in his brother's eyes, a deep and consuming sadness that made Takeru's eyes look cold and empty. A sadness that had dominated his brother since Katherine, Takeru's fiance, died in his arms after sustaining injuries from an accident five years ago.  
At first his brother had shut off for a while, refusing even to speak. But then he had started to conceal his misery behind a false smile and refused to talk about the accident or Katherine's death. That worried Yamato, he had not seen his brother show any genuine emotions after her death, and Yamato knew that wasn't a good sign.  
"You know your brothers getting worse." said Ken, a blue-haired Nason ( Nason hair comes in shades of green, blue, violet,pink, and lavender).  
"Yes," Yamato agreed. "But I fear anything I try to do might make it worse, not better."  
"Maybe he needs to find something that'll give him a spark, a reason to live." muttered Miyako, Ken's lavender-haired Nason wife.  
"I don't think it'll be that easy." Yamato said. "Katherine was the one who gave him love, love that I didn't sufficiently provide after our parents died."  
"But he's destroying himself!" Miyako raged in frustration.  
Yamato was equally frustrated and worried. He didn't know what to do since his brother had emotionally distanced himself from everyone. Only Katherine had seemed to give Takeru's life meaning, now he was lost without her.  
  
Ambloni Imperial Palace, Amblona  
  
Princess Hikari Yagami walked slowly and contemplatively in the palace garden. She sighed as her thoughts drifted toward her parents and Taichi, her brother. They couldn't afford spare time for simple pleasures as she did now. Their political and military duties didn't give them a moment of rest, especially now since the tensions in the Ambloni-Kandoorit borders was now threatening to erupt into war.  
Hikari wished she could help but her parents and brother refused to let her do anything political or military in nature. They wanted to spare her from the stress of royal duties. That only irritated Hikari, she was 21 now yet they still treated her like a child.  
"Is something wrong, Princess?" a voice asked. Hikari turned, it was her friend and bodyguard, Sora.  
"No, it's nothing Sora." said Kari. She saw the unbelieving look on Sora's face but Sora decided not to ask further.  
"I know what's wrong." Another voice said. "It's your family, right?"  
Hikari turned to regard the pink-haired Nason woman who had been walking next to her silently. Kari didn't answer.  
The Nason woman sighed. "Look Kari, I've lived with you for years and I've learned to read you. I know it's about your family."  
"Well, Mimi, I guess you're not letting this slide." Hikari muttered. "Yes, it's about my family. I'm peeved that they won't let me help 'em. It's as if they still think I'm a kid!"  
"Kari, you know that's a load of shit." Mimi said causing Mimi's bodyguard, Iori, to wince. He wasn't used to hearing profanity spoken around the Imperial Family.  
"They're just tryin' to spare you from all that political crap they put up with." Mimi continued.  
"Yes, Princess Hikari," Sora agreed. "It's for your own good." Kari threw up her arms in frustration. "But I'm o princess of the Ambloni Empire, damn it! I'm supposed to put up with political crap!"  
Mimi gave her a sideways look. She had been the daughter of a Nason matriarch that had been a close friend of Hikari's mother, the Empress. When illness claimed Mimi's parents the Empress had adopted her as a ward. Mimi came to live with the Ambloni Imperial Family and acted as Hikari's older sister.  
"Hikari, you may think you're ready to play a more active role but you're not." Mimi stated flatly.  
"And I'll never be ready-" Hikari started to yell until she was suddenly pushed down. "GET DOWN!!" she heard Sora and Iori yell just as the sound of a laser shot rang out.  
Sora, Iori, and the guards present in the garden started firing at four people dressed in the garb of palace servants. The "servants" were firing laser pistols.The body guards and the palace guards quickly gunned down the would-be assassins. Sora's eyes went wide as she saw the image of one of the attackers flicker. The assassin's holographic disguise shut off, revealing a maroon-skinned hummanoid.  
By this time more palace guards had started to pour into the garden. Sora whirled on one of them. "Those were Kandoorit!"  
  
"Yes, we know," one of the guards replied irritatedly. "The other members of the royal family were also attacked-"  
"WHAT?!" Kari interrupted.  
"They're all safe but we must get Pincess Hikari and Lady Mimi inside the palace bunker." He added quickly. With that the guards quickly formed a protective ring around Kari and Mimi and hurriedly led them to the bunker.  
Sora & Iori were talking with the guards commanding officer while running.. Hikari & Mimi asked questions repeatedly, but the guards remained silent as they led them into the bunker.  
"Mimi!" a voice called out. It was Jyou, Mimi blue-haired consort (husband) who ran to Mimi and wrapped her in a hug.  
"It's alright, Jyou." She whispered. "I'm okay."  
Hikari's family had also rushed to hug her in relief just as she blurted out: "What the hell's goin' on?!"  
Taichi was the one who answered her. "It looks like the Ambloni- Kandoorit border dispute finally escalated." He replied blunty.  
"WHAT?!"  
"About the same time those assassins attacked Kandoorit warships launched an assult on 16 of the 35 systems within the Ambloni Empire." Taichi stated grimly. "Already four of the sixteen systems under attack are starting to fall."  
Hikari was stunned. She tried to find words, but there was nothing she could say. With the simultaneous, brutal attacks by the Kandoorit, the 50- year era of peace in the Ambloni Empire had come to an end.  
  
Author's Note: I know there's no Takari in this chapter, but hey, TK and Kari haven't even met yet. Takari will come in later chapters. As always Read & Review. 


	2. Koushiro owes me

Author's Note: Thanks to the readers who reviewed Chapter 1. Here it is, Chapter 2, Takeru and Hikari don't meet here yet, but they will in the next chapter.  
  
Disclaimer: Refer to Chapter One.  
  
Story Title: Path to Sanctuary  
  
Chapter Title: " Koushiro Owes Me."  
  
Shuttle White Wolf, somewhere in deep space  
  
Takeru smiled as he keyed in a course adjustment into the nav system. Still smiling, he turned toward his brother in the pilot's seat and nodded. At Takeru's nod Yamato punched the hyperlight button. As the stars outside the window streched into long streaks Takeru's mind drifted, as it often did, to Katherine.  
She had been the one who had first made him smile after the death of his parents, the first one who had made him laugh. And the first one he had fallen in love with. Takeru had smiled a lot when he had been around her. Her kind & caring demeanor had never failed to make him smile.  
Now, the only reason he kept on smiling was to honor her memory. He felt pain stab through him as he remembered her dying words: 'Takeru. I wanna. see you smile.'. He smiled most of the time now, but neverr one that was genuine.  
"HOLY SHIT!" Koushiro suddenly yelled, snapping Takeru out of his thoughts. He turned to his employer and cocked an eyebrow.  
"What is it?" Miyako asked.  
Koushiro gestured to his computer terminal. "I was skimming the UniNet and, well, stumbled upon some news."  
"From the profane outburst I can guess that it wasn't good news." Stated Yamato.  
Koushiro scratched the back of his head sheepishly, he didn't usually curse in such a profane manner. "Sorry, but how do you expect a guy to after findin' out that his home system is under attack."  
"What?!" Miyako & Ken exclaimed in unison.  
"It seems that the Kandoorit have invaded Ambloni space." Koushiro said in a casual tone, but his face betrayed how concerned he really was.  
Yamato nodded. "I'll understand if you wish to return to the Ambloni Empire to fight against the Kandoorit. It is, after all, your ruc'fuja, your duty. In fact, Takeru and I would be honored to assist you."  
"Thanks guys," Koushiro replied. "But there won't be any need for that. The Ambloni military would never accept my reenlistment even if I begged to do it." He smiled crookedly, "In fact, they'll probably arrest me."  
"Huh?" Miyako asked. "Why?"  
Koushiro again grinned sheepishly. "Well.when I was still in the Ambloni military I sorta.hacked into the Imperial Palace Mainframe."  
Ken's eyes went wide. "You didn't sell any secrets you found, I hope?"  
"No, no," Koushiro quickly added. "I just made it so that every time someone opened a file a not-exactly-decent picture of a woman popped up."  
Miyako rolled her eyes. "Geez, and I thought you were the responsible type."  
"Still," Yamato insisted. "It is your duty to defend Amblona, I'm sure during times of war they'd forget your past transgressions & allow you to redeem yourself through service."  
"You Dbrojan are sticklers for duty, aren't you?" Koushiro remarked, he smiled and shook his head. "Besides, Amblona ain't Dbroj. Ambloni do things a little differently."  
"I've always wondered about that," Ken muttered, Yamato turned to look at him. "I've always wondered how come Dbrojan are always such fanatics of duty and loyalty. From what I know of Dbrojan, your military and government are semi-official and you culture revolves around decentralized and nomadic wolf-pack-like groups."  
He frowned. "With that kind of culture you'd expect Dbrojan to be disunited, yet it is quite the opposite. Your people are, in fact, strongly united."  
It was Takeru who answered in a cheerful tone. "You're mistaken when you compare Dbrojan packs with wolf packs. Wolf packs stay in a particular territory and are hostile towards other wolf packs. Dbrojan packs, on the other hand, are nomadic and less hostile to other packs. In fact, if one Dbrojan pack comes across another they may merge temporarily or permanently into one pack. Dbrojan, most of the time, prefer not to fight other Dbrojan and they give each other the respect they deserve.  
"After the formation of the United Dbrojan Government, all the packs were merged into the Dbrojan Unity and it is every Dbrojan's duty to serve or defend the Unity when called upon to do so."  
Miyako just shook her head. "Y'know, the galaxy would probably be a better place if everyone was like that."  
  
Imperial Command Bunker, Amblona  
  
Hikari just sat in one of the many corners of the Imperial Bunker's command center. For the first time she wasn't so eager to take on her duties as an Imperial Princess.  
The news of war still stunned her, but what overwhelmed her were the reports of large casualties, both military and civilian. Her mind conjured up images of suffering and death that made her want to cry. Hikari didn't like to see people suffer, she didn't want to see them consumed by misery or death. Now it was inevitable, war had befallen the Ambloni Empire. And with it came suffering and death.  
"How the hell did those Kandoorit agents manage to penetrate that deep into the palace?!" Daisuke, Taichi's bodyguard, raged.  
"Sir," said one of the guards, flinching under Daisuke's glare. "The Kandoorit have very effective holographic disguises, the holomitters even produce signals that fool bio scanners-"  
"They're holograms, right?" Daisuke interrupted. "Why don't you just put your hand on 'em, you'd be sure to feel the scaly Kandoorit skin underneath!"  
"It's not that simplem, Sir. The holomitters also produce a force field that fools you into thinking that the hologrphic 'skin' is real."  
Hikrari's father, the Emperor, stepped into the conversation. "I don't think that right now we should worry about how they managed to infiltrate the palace. We should be more worried about how many, if any, of them are left undiscovered."  
"We've run many checks, Your Highness." Iori reported. "But there are still many palace workers that haven't been accounted for."  
"That means the Imperial family's lives might still be in danger." Sora said. "Protocol states that we should evacuate you to Sanctuary." (Sanctuary being the codename for a secret base)  
The Empress shook her head. "No, our place is here, leading our people through this war."  
"But Your Highness, protocol-" Iori started to protest.  
"No." the Emperor said firmly. "My wife is right, we must stay here. We must show our people tha we haven't abandoned them."  
He turned to face Daisuke. "Take Tai, Kari, Mimi, and Jyou to the Imperial transport. Get them to Sanctuary."  
"Wait!" Taichi protested. "My place is here too."  
"As is mine." Hikari agreed.  
The Emperor shook his head. "No, you two are the Imperial heirs. Should anything happen to me and your mother it is your duty to take the throne, we cannot risk Kandoorit agents assassinating you."  
"Father, we are staying!" Tai & Kari asserted.  
"No, I have decided." The Emperor said stonily.  
"Please, my children." The Empress begged. Taichi & Hikari both looked as if they were about to argue, but then stopped.  
"As you wish." They said, then they each gave their parents a hug.  
"Excuse me, Your Majesties." Jyou, Mimi's consort, said. "I don't think we should use the Imperial transport."  
The Emperor and Empress both gave him a questioning look. He continued: "If Kandoorit agents have penetrated the palace they must surely have infiltrated the Imperial transport's crew. An agent might try to sabotage the ship or assassinate the Prince and Princess if they used it."  
"What do you suggest then?" implored the Emperor.  
"A small transport vehicle of non-Ambloni origin." Said Jyou. "In fact, I have a friend who can provide the service we require."  
Daisuke's eyes narrowed. "You don't mean Koushiro Izumi, the hacker?" he snorted in contempt. "I heard he became a pirate after he wasn't imprisoned for hacking into the Mainframe."  
"Actually," Jyou corrected. "He has become a freighter, and Intelligence reports show that he has participated only in legal activities after he was kicked out of the military."  
"I won't allow it, Your Majesty." Daisuke protested. "It's too risky. That Koushiro character might try and sell out to the Kandoorit."  
"No he won't!" Jyou said heatedly, Koushiro was his friend. "I know him."  
Tai came to Jyou's defense. "Look, if Jyou says we can trust him, then I'll trust him."  
"Me too." Kari agreed.  
"You're too trusting." Daisuke muttered under his breath. Tai chose not to react to the remark.  
"I'm not too sure about this, but since Tai & Kari backed you up, I'll go with it." The Emperor said. "Jyou, contact this pal of yours. Tell him we'll pay any price to take Tai, Kari, Mimi, and you to Snctuary."  
Jyou smiled. "You won't have to pull out your wallet, Your Majesty. Koushiro owes me." 


	3. An Old Debt

Author's Note: I thank the reviewers for their encouragement. Here's Chapter 3 where Takeru and Hikari finally meet. Also, I would like to make a correction for Chapter 2, the Dbrojan word is supposed to be ruc'fyja not ruc'fuja. As always, Read & Review.  
  
Disclaimer: Refer to Chapter One  
  
Story Title: Path to Sanctuary  
  
Chapter Title: An Old Debt  
  
Shuttle White Wolf, somewhere in deep space  
  
Koushiro leaned back on his bunk bed. He was really worried about the Kandoorit attack on the Ambloni Empire. Though he had been kicked out of the Ambloni Imperial Forces for the hacking incident, he still felt loyalty & a sense of connection towards the Empire.  
He worried about the situation of his old friends and even his estranged family. 'Are they alright?' was the constant question in his mind.  
He did take slight comfort in the fact that his relatives & friends all lived on the systems that hadn't been invaded. But he knew that would change if the Kandoorit pushed forward.  
The beeping of the intercom interrupted his thoughts. He bent up and clicked on the intercom to answer it. It was Ken. "What is it, Ken?"  
"Sorry to disturb you, Kou." Ken said. "We have a K.I.-class comm signal coming in."  
Koushiro's eyebrows arched up. K.I.-class calls were signals that went through Koushiro's personal encrypted line. Not many people had the codes to access it. "Would you patch it through here, Ken?"  
"Sure, hold on." Ken said. Ken's face was replaced by a window asking for Kou's password. He keyed it in, the bespectacled face that greeted him made his eyes go wide.  
"Jyou?!"  
"Hey, Kou." The blue-haired Nason greeted. "Long time no see."  
  
"Yeah, you too." Koushiro answered. "How's Mimi?"  
"Oh, she's fine, And still pretty good in the sack." Jyou said, grinning mischeivously.  
Koushiro shook his head. "Still the pervert, eh?"  
"Hey! As I recall, it was you who attached porn to the Mainframe files."  
"Yeah, but you supplied the pictures."  
Jyou chuckled, then abruptly became serious. "How'd you like to be exonerated of your little hacking fiasco?" He asked.  
Noting jyou's seriousness, Koushiro asked: "What do you mean?"  
"As you might know, the Kandoorit have launched a massive blitzkrieg against the Ambloni Empire." Koushiro nodded. "Well, the Kandoorit have infiltrated the Palace and the Emperor wants to get me, Mimi, Prince Taichi, and Princess Hikari to a secret base. Problem is, we aren't sure if the Imperial transport isn't infiltrated."  
"Let me guess," Koushiro said. "You want me and my crew to do it, right? And since you & Mimi kept me from goin' to jail after that hacking incident we won't get paid."  
"Well, you won't exactly leave empty-handed." Jyou said.  
"Hey, havin' my record cleared is great, but my crew won't be happy about the no-payment part." Kou said. He pursed his lips thoughtfully and continued: "But I'm sure they'll go with it."  
"So," Jyou asked. "You gonna do it?"  
"Why not? At least I can say I didn't just do nothing during the war."  
"Good," Jyou said, smiling. "I'm sending a code to you now. Transmit it after you enter Ambloni space or the defenses will blow you to the next world."  
"Yeah, whatever." Koushiro said, downloading the code. "Tell Mimi I said hi."  
Jyou smiled. "Sure, see ya"and with that he shut communications.  
"Oh well." Koushiro muttered to himself. "Looks like we have our next job."  
  
Over Amblona, Capital World of the Ambloni Empire  
  
"Tell me again why we're not getting paid." Miyako griped for the umpteenth time as the White Wolf exited hyperlight.  
Koushiro sighed, Miyako was a loyal crew member, but she always complained when there was little or no monetary compensation. "It's an old debt, Miyako. If it weren't for Jyou & Mimi I'd have been tossed into a prison cell."  
"Yeah, yeah." Miyako grumbled. "But I hate your 'It's-free-if-it's-a- debt' policy. It's gotten us into trouble before."  
"Now, now, Miyako." Ken told his wife. "He is the boss. And this job'll get him cleared of his past misdemeanor."  
"And he'll also be doing his ruc'fyja (duty)." Yamato said as he turned the shuttle towards Amblona.  
Looking out of the cockpit, Takeru saw a squadron of Ambloni fighters heading toward them. Four fighters broke away from the formation and flanked the shuttle while the other eight circled warily.  
"Unidentified shuttle, state your intentions." A curt voice commanded over the comm.  
Takeru turned. "Koushiro, the code?"  
Koushiro tapped a few keys on his terminal. A moment later, the comm crackled again. "Code transmission verified. Follow us, please."  
The other eight fighters broke away while the leader of the four-fighter group led the way along with his wingman. The other two fighters kept behind the shuttle a certain distance away.  
Yamato followed the fighters until they were led to a landing area. The fighters then broke away after they had given Yamato some instructions. Following their instructions, Yamato flew the White Wolf down to the landing pad. Looking outside, he saw soldiers and defense guns tracking the shuttle as it descended. Finally, with a gentle bump, the shuttle landed.  
"Okay Takeru, put on your coolant suit and come with me." Koushiro ordered. "The rest of you stay with the shiuttle."  
Takeru nodded. As he was heading for his bunk where the Dbrojan coolant suits were stored he heard Koushiro say: "Don't bother bringing weapons, Takeru. The palace guards will just confiscate them."  
Takeru quckly made it to his bunk and started putting on the coolant suit. A coolant suit is sorta like a flight suit with coolant tubes running throughout the inside. Dbrojans used these suits to keep their body temperature cool when they stepped into environments with that measured 30C (86F) or more. If Dbrojan didn't put them on at those temperatures they'd overheat.  
Over the coolant suit Takeru put on a large, dark green overcoat. Usually there would've been Dbrojan throwing discs, a Dbrojan knife, and an LP-9 heavy laser pistol tucked within the coat. This time, however, he didn't bring any weapons in accordance with Koushiro's instructions.  
He met up with Koushiro and both of them walked down the ramp. Takeru smiled a polite smile as several palace guards came over to meet them. One carried a portable scanner and proceeded to scan them while the other guards covered them.  
The guard with the scanner looked up. "They're clean." He said to the other guards, confirming that Koushiro & Takeru carried no weapons or hidden devices.  
A guard with a sergent's uniform nodded. " Come with us, please." He said curtly to both of them.  
The guards led the two freelancers down to an underground tunnel network. They boarded a capsule-shaped transport vehicle, which shot down the tunnel at breakneck speed.  
  
Inside the Imperial Command Bunker  
  
"We have a message from our Nason allies, Your Highness." Sora heard a comm officer report. "They say that the Nason Parliament has authorized the Nason Armed Forces to assist us." The Emperor nodded and smiled at Mimi, her wardship to the Imperial family was one of the reasons for the strong alliance between the Ambloni Empire & the Nason Commonwealth.  
Sora's comm crackeled. "We are en route to the bunker, Captain. One subject is Koushiro Izumi and the other is a Dbrojan who appears to be his bodyguard."  
"Very well, Sergent." Sora answered then clicked off her comm. She noticed Hikari's eyebrows perk up in interest.  
"A Dbrojan?" Hikari murmured. "Now I'll finally get to see if the rumors are true."  
"Rumors?" Sora inquired.  
"The ones that say that their eyes glow like a cat's when light strikes them at a certain angle."  
"We shall see, Princess."  
Hikari shot her a look. "Sora, how many times have I told you to stop calling me Princess. We're friends, just call me Kari."  
"Okay Pri- I mean, Kari."  
Jyou's eyes turned toward the door as it opened. The First ones in were the guards, covering the doorway. Then, two figures walked in, one had brown hair while the other was blonde.  
"Kou!" Jyou & Mimi both exclaimed, running to the brown-haired person and embracing him, much to the annoyance of the guards.  
"Hey, Jyou. Hey, Mimi." Hikari heard Koushiro say. But her eyes slid from the sight of the reunited friends toward s politely smiling young man. 'So this is a Dbrojan.' Hikari thought. She looked at his eyes.  
She did see them glow a little as light hit at a certain angle, but that wasn't what kept Hikari's eyes on him. It was the misery in his eyes, she hated seeing such sadness in someone's eyes. She wanted to justput her hand on his shoulder and comfort him, maybe even kiss the sadness away. . .  
'Hold up!' Hikari's mind suddenly thought. 'Where'd THAT come from?' she thought, referring to the idea of kissing the sadness away. She looked at the Dbrojan. 'He's really handsome.' She thought.  
She shook her head slightly. 'What's the matter with you, Kari?' her mind said to her. 'You've just seen this guy and suddenly you're thinking about how handsome he is and kissing him. 'Geez, you're too old for such childish thoughts.'  
Takeru, meanwhile, was looking around the room. He saw six people in royal attire: two Nason in the garb of royal wards and four Ambloni who he assumed to be the Imperial Family. His eyes drew toward the royal siblings. One had spiky brown hair that defied gravity, the Crown Prince, Takeru assumed. Standing beside the Prince was a soldier with an RL-15 A1 laser rifle, the Prince's bodyguard. The soldier bore a striking resemblance to the Prince, and he was scowling slightly at Koushiro and Takeru.  
Takeru shrugger slightly, he'd seen that kind of scowl before. It was usually worn by sons of rich men or nobles who disdained freelancers like him. 'Such foolishness.' Takeru thought. Dbrojan had no illusions of superiority, everyone was treated with due respect.  
His eyes then moved toward the Princess, as they had done so many times already. He wasn't sure why, but something about the Princess drew him to her. Then, it clicked, it was her eyes. She had the same kind, compassionate eyes as Katherine.  
'No!' Takeru mentally scolded himself. 'Such thoughts insult both Katherine and the Princess They are different individuals and their individualities must be respected.' Takeru looked the Princess right in the eyes, still wearing his empty smile. She turned away, realizing that she'd been staring.  
"You are Koushiro Izumi, I presume?" the Emperor asked, interrupting Kou, Jyou, & Mimi's reunion.  
"Y-yes, Your Majesty." Koushiro stammered. He was still an Ambloni, and now he was in the presence of the most powerful Ambloni in the galaxy.  
"So, you were the hacker, eh?" the Emperor asked. Koushiro stiffened. Seeing the look on his face, the Emperor laughed.  
"Don't worry, I didn't bring you here to throw you to prison." The Emperor said, chuckling. "In fact, I believe Jyou has already told you of what we want of you."  
"Um. . . yes, Your Highness."  
The Emperor nodded. "I'd like to chat a little more with you, Mr. Izumi, but circumstances dictate that you take leave immediately. Now go, and take Jyou, Mimi, the Imperial and their bodyguards siblings with you."  
"Y-yes, Your Grace." Koushiro said. Then: "Um, Your Majesty, where exactly is this base you want us to take them to?"  
Kou flinched as the Emperor turned to look at him. "Captain Sora will tell you herself after you lift off."  
  
Koushiro nodded and bowed. "Yes, Your Highness."  
The Emperor smiled. "Do this right and we'll erase all records of your hacking incident."  
"Y-yes, Your Majesty." Koushiro stammered again.  
Takeru was somewhat amused at his boss' nervousness. Dbrojan treated those in authority with great respect, but they never shook in their heels or stammered in the presence of a leader. Leaders were just that, leaders. They were not dieties to be feared or praised, just people to be obeyed.  
Kari, in the meantime, hadn't been paying attention at all to what had transpired. All the time her attention had been on the smiling Dbrojan who had been keeping silent. He had actually looked right at her when she'd been staring. She had turned away and blushed, but after that she had kept on stealing looks at him.  
There was something that intrigued her about this Dbrojan. He smiled a lot and that was strange since, from what she heard from others, Dbrojan usually favored blank, impassive looks. But the smile itself was being used to mask a deep sorrow that she clearly saw in his eyes.  
'If there's anything I'm gonna do on this trip, it's gonna be to find out what sorrow this guy's hiding.' She promised herself. 'But it's none of your business.' Another part of her mind argued. 'When people are sad, it's my business to make that person feel better.' She countered herself. 'You know how overbearing that sounds?' the part of her mind argued again.  
She looked at the Dbrojan again & wondered: 'What is it about you. . .'  
  
Author's Note: Well, that's Chapter Three. I've written down the whole story on a notebook and the reasons why I'm posting chapters this slow is because I'm a slow at typing and I only have limited time in Net Café's. But I'll try my best to upload a chapter per week. Please review. 


	4. Departure

Author's Note: Thanks again for the readers who reviewed, much appreciated. Here now is Chapter 4, in this chapter I will introduce Kandoorit characters. And, in case if you're wondering why I don't use the nickname 'TK', it will be explained in this chapter.  
  
Disclaimer: Refer to Chapter 1.  
  
Story Title: Path to Sanctuary  
  
Chapter Title: Departure  
  
Shuttle White Wolf, just above Amblona's atmosphere  
  
Fighters escorted the White Wolf as it exited the atmosphere of Amblona. Yamato peered out to the side and saw an Ambloni pilot give him a salute. Yamato nodded in acknowledgement as the fighters broke off.  
"Hmm. . ." he heard Takeru mutter. "According to these coordinates given to us, it'll take us about two weeks & several hyperlight jumps to get to this Sanctuary base."  
Daisuke cocked an eyebrow, in a challenging manner, at Yamato. "Think you can handle it?"  
"Yamato turned to Daisuke and said plainly: "I've made longer trips before, I just hope you can handle the ride."  
Daisuke scowled while the Prince, the Princess, and the Nason wards chuckled slightly. Yamato shrugged and keyed in the coordinates for the first in a series of jumps. The scenery outside stretched as the ship entered hyperlight.  
"Since we won't exit this jump 'til another few hours, I'll go and heat up some lunch for all of us." Takeru said. Yamato nodded while Miyako said: "Heat up some of the deluxe packs for our passengers."  
Takeru nodded and started out of the cockpit. Daisuke stood up. "I'm coming too." Daisuke said, with a look of distrust.  
"Suit yourself." Takeru said. He thought to himself: 'Probably wants to see if I'm gonna put poison in the food'  
"Wait." A female voice said. Takeru turned, it was the Princess. "Let me come too, I've never seen someone prepare dehydrated food packs before."  
Takeru shrugged. "Sure, why not?"  
The Dbrojan then headed toward the shuttle's small kitchen. Daisuke & Hikari followed him. Daisuke put himself between Takeru and the Princess, ready to take the Dbrojan down in case he attacked the Princess.  
Hikari, though, wasn't aware of this. She simply stared after the Dbrojan as he entered the small room. She didn't really come to see him prepare food, she just used that as an excuse. She had really come to get to know Takeru a bit more. (She now knew his name because there had been brief introductions before they had taken off)  
"So." She started as Takeru took out some food packs. She ignored Daisuke's presence and continued. "Uh, how'd you cook these things anyway?"  
Takeru smiled at her. "They don't need to be cooked, really. These packs are self-heating,, all I need to do is to pour water inside the pack to rehydrate the food inside. The sensors in the packs will activate the built in heating device when it detects the water, which will, of course, heat up the food."  
"Uh huh. . ." she nodded, not really listening. Her mind said: 'Come on Kari, think of something to say.'  
"I wonder. . ."  
"Yes?"  
"If you're Yamato Ishida's brother, how come your last name is Takaishi?" she blurted. She felt like slapping herself. 'That was real smooth, Kari.' Her mind told her sarcastically. 'Why'd don't you just say that you'd like to know him better, it'll probably be less obvious!'  
Takeru kept on smiling, as if he didn't notice the change of subjects. "We Dbrojan don't name ourselves the way you Ambloni name yourselves. We don't have clan names like you, our last names are the names our parents gave us."  
"And the first?" It was Daisuke this time, overhearing the conversation and becoming curious.  
"Our first names are ones we choose for ourselves after completing the Bez'zehi Poji, the Rite of Passage." Takeru answered.  
"What's the meaning of your names?" Hikari asked.  
"Nothing, really. We Dbrojan prefer to choose names that don't mean anything."  
"Do you have a nickname?"  
"Nickname?"  
"A shortened version of your name." Hikari clarified.  
Takeru answered. "We do not have nicknames, on Dbroj the shortening of the name is a grave insult."  
"Oh. . ." She said. Then, before she could stop herself. "Why do you always smile?"  
Kari knew she touched a sensitive subject when she saw Takeru's eyes become guarded. His smile became slightly strained. 'Great Kari, whadd'ya do now?' her mind asked.  
"The food's done." Takeru said, voice still cheerful but eyes averted. He handed her a pack. "Wanna try one?"  
"Excuse me." Daisuke said as he put a scanner over the pack, then he moved the scanner over the other packs. Finding them clear of anything harmful he nodded to Hikari.  
Hikari took a spoon & scooped some food out of the pack. She placed it in her mouth and remarked: "It's good."  
But her mind wasn't on how good the food tasted but on how Takeru had reacted when she'd asked him the question. 'There's no doubt about it' she thought. 'The reason why he always smiles is linked to the reason for the sadness in his eyes.'  
She frowned slightly. 'But how do I find the reason out? It's obvious he doesn't want to talk about it.'  
  
Somewhere in the Ambloni Imperial Palace  
  
Espionage-infiltrator Kur'hashan looked around nervously. So far, he had been the only Kandoorit infiltrator that hadn't been caught by Ambloni palace security. He also knew that would quickly change.  
All the other espionage-infiltrators had been exposed and captured following the failed attempt by the assassin infiltrators. He needed to do as much of his duties as he could before the same fate befell him.  
He looked around again as he drew out hid encrypted long-range communicator. "This is espionage-infiltrator Kur'hashan reporting."  
The face of a Kandoorit intelligence comm officer appeared on the device's screen. "Signal encryption code confirmed, report Kur'hashan."  
"The Imperial heirs have left the palace while the Emperor & Empress have chosen to stay. I disguised myself as a palace guard and was able to install a tracking device aboard the shuttle the Imperial heirs were using to evacuate."  
The Kandoorit intelligence officer nodded. "Anything else?"  
"Yes sir," Kur'hashan hesitated then asked. "Only I remain unexposed. What are my instructions?"  
"Do your duty 'til the end." Was the only thing the comm officer said before cutting communications.  
Kur'hashan stared at the device for a while before he tucked it back into his robes. With that order, he knew that Kandoorit intelligence command had sentenced him to either capture or death at Ambloni hands. But he didn't fear either consequence, he was a loyal infiltrator of the Kandoorit Infiltration Corps. He would do as he was told, he'll do his duty until the end.  
  
Kandoorit Command Cruiser Avatar, above the planet Elkon  
  
Warlord Nor'klemosk sat in the command chair of the Avatar, his personal command ship. Outside he saw a Devastator-class battleship belting out barrage after barrage of laser and plasma fire on ships of the Ambloni Space Navy. The Ambloni were giving a spirited defense of the Ambloni held world of Elkon but Nor'klemosk knew that the stood no chance. The Kandoorit forces were far superior in terms if numbers. It would only be a matter of time before Elkon fell.  
Personally, Nor'klemosk preferred not to fight in a war in which he was with the invading forces. He had studied every war of invasion in the past and every such war ended in the defeat of the invading forces. But, of course, he wouldn't say so aloud.  
Propaganda stated that this war had supposedly started because of the 'unjustified control' by the Ambolni Empire of four systems that were originally part of the Kandorit Cluster. Systems the Ambloni had held since the Great Interstellar War about sixty years ago.  
He knew that was just a bunch of lies of course, the 'unjustified control' issue was just an excuse. The Kandoorit High Command had lusted after many of the mineral-rich systems under Ambloni control. They had always wanted to invade the Ambloni Empire and take those systems for themselves. In fact, they had tried during the Great Interstellar War, which had ended in Kandoorit defeat.  
"Great Warlord," one of the bridge comm officers said. "We have an incoming message from Kandoorit intelligence."  
The Warlord scowled, he bore no love for Kandoorit intelligence and its arrogant agents. He muttered: "Put it through."  
The main screen blacked out for a second but was quickly replaced by the face of Tum'blomekt, one of the high-ranking overseers of intelligence.  
"Overseer Tum'blomekt," Nor'klemosk greeted in an even tone. "How may I be of service?"  
"Warlord Nor'klemosk, we would like to borrow one of the Stealth Stalkers under your command for a special mission." The overseer said with an arrogant tone.  
"Oh? What kind of mission might you need it for?"  
"I'm sorry, but I cannot discuss the nature of this mission."  
Nor'klemosk smiled. "Then I'm affriad I can't lend you a Stealth Stalker."  
"What?!" Tum'blomekt demanded.  
"The crew of that Stealth Stalker is under my personal command. I won't lend them to you until you tell me what you're going to do with them." The Warlord said in a tone that dared the Overseer to challenge him.  
The Overseer's nostrils flared, it seemed as that he would take the Warlord up on his challenge. But then Tum'blomekt sighed, he answered: "We are currently tracking the shuttle that Crown Prince Taichi & Princess Hikari of the Ambloni Empire are using."  
Nor'klemosk's eyebrows perked-up in interest. "You want to have a Stealth Stalker track them down?"  
"Yes," nodded the Overseer. "If we could capture the Imperial heirs we could force the Emperor & Empress of the Ambloni Empire to surrender. Not only that, we could also learn the location of this Sanctuary base which, aside from being an Imperial hideaway, is also a weapons research facility developing weapons more advanced than any in our arsenal."  
Nor'klemosk deliberated, if they could force the Ambloni rulers to surrender it would shorten the war. But still, Kandoorit Intelligence was known to throw away men on foolhardy missions. The Warlord, unlike many Kandoorit officers, cared for the men under his command. On the other hand, a shorter war meant less casualties. . .  
"Very well, I lend to your service the Dark Ocean (AN: I think you know where I got the inspiration for that name), one of our finest Stealth Stalkers." Nor'klemosk said. Then his eyes took on a threatening look. "But the ship and its crew better be returned to me afterwards, is that clear?"  
Tum'blomekt cringed slightly under the Warlord's gaze. "O-of course."  
The Warlord nodded and, with a gesture to the comm officer, cut off communications.  
"Contact the Dark Ocean, tell them to report to Intelligence Headquarters." He ordered.  
"Yes, Sir." Responded the comm officer.  
The Warlord nodded and turned his attention back to the battle before him.  
  
Author's Note: Well that's it for now. As always, REVIEW! 


	5. Miyako's Revelation

Author's Note: Aww, I didn't get reviews for Chapter Four. Oh well, here's Chapter Five.  
  
Disclaimer: Refer to Chapter One  
  
Story Title: Path to Sanctuary  
  
Chapter Title: Miyako's Revelation  
  
Shuttle White Wolf, somewhere in space  
  
Takeru lay on his bunk bed, staring at the ceiling. His mind occupied with one thing, or rather, one person. Princess Hikari Yagami.  
In the past few days she'd hung around him, trying to get to know him and be friendly. But often times she had asked personal questions, questions he did not want to answer. He knew the Princess meant no harm, he saw it in her eyes. She only wanted to help, but Takeru didn't want to talk about his pain. He was afraid that if he ever did he might break down.  
He had tried to avoid Hikari, but it was hard to avoid someone in a shuttle as small as the White Wolf. He sighed, no one had ever bothered him like this since Katherine. . .  
'There you go again!' his mind scolded. 'Comparing Hikari to Katherine. They are different people and to say that one is another is insulting to both!'  
He rolled in his bunk bed. He was troubled, part of him had wanted to tell Hikari everything, to let it all out & cry at her shoulders as he did with Katherine. But another part of him held back, afraid that if he didn't break down after letting it all out he might forget Katherine.  
It was against Dbrojan principles to dwell in the past. But he did not want to forget, he couldn't forget. . .  
  
Hikari sighed, she'd tried many times to get the secret out of Takeru in the last three days but Takeru had refused to cooperate. There were a few times that she almost managed to let him open up to her, but just as she'd thought she succeeded his mask came right back up and she was back to square one.  
This time, though, she was going to try to get the out of people close to Takeru since Takeru himself didn't wanna talk about it. She had tried Takeru's brother, Yamato, but he just politely told her to mind her own business.  
Then, she saw who she was looking for. A lavender-haired Nason woman. She heard Sora following quietly behind her as she walked toward the Nason. Sora's shift for now was to guard Hikari so she stayed behind her. Hikari didn't mind her, Sora hardly interfered with what Hikari did.  
"Um, excuse me." Hikari said, tapping Miyako's shoulder gently.  
"Yes, Princess?" Miyako turned.  
"Can I ask you something?" Hikari asked.  
"About what?" Miyako asked, her tone guarded.  
"It's about Takeru-"  
"I'd rather not."  
"Look," Kari said. "I just want to know why Takeru is miserable."  
"He doesn't look miserable to me."  
Hikari rolled her eyes. "He may smile a lot, but it doesn't fool me. I can see it in his eyes, he's miserable and I know that you know he's miserable."  
Miyako sighed, the Princess wasn't letting this go. "Okay look, Princess. It's not my business to butt into Takeru's personal problems and neither is it yours."  
"Even if butting in could help him?" Hikari countered. "Look at him, despite that smile he's an empty shell. Aren't you his friend? Don't you want to help him?"  
"Hey, I wanna help him as much as you do." Miyako said. "But we might end up making it worse."  
Hikari cocked an eyebrow. "Worse than he is now? I don't think so."  
Miyako sighed again. "Okay, if you wanna find out so bad, I'll tell you. Takeru wasn't always like this, when I first met him he was a really quiet kid who was recovering from the loss of his parents. We also had another person in our group, Katherine, who had taken an interest in Takeru. Like you, she had tried to make Takeru open up to her. At first, she made little progress, but then, Takeru actually started to open up, to smile, and he started to laugh. She'd managed to bring him out of whatever world he retreated to after his parents' death."  
Miyako paused and smiled at the memory. "Those two drew closer and closer until, eventually, they fell in love. They were so happy together, they seemed perfect for each other." Miyako's face then went serious and sad. "Then, five years ago, something happened. It was while we were docked in the Kumos Space Port. Katherine had been working on a faulty power relay when it," A pained look passed the Nason's face. "It exploded."  
Hikari gasped. Sora, who had been listening quietly, stiffened. Miyako continued: "Takeru had rushed to her and tried everything to help her, but the damage was too great. Katherine. . . died in his arms. Her last words were: 'Takeru. . . I wanna see you smile.' "  
Hikari was crying, it was too sad. Sora didn't cry, but her facial expression showed that she had been saddened by the story too.  
"I'm sorry." Hikari said. "I shouldn't have asked."  
Miyako stared at empty space for a few moments, saying nothing. But then. . .  
"Maybe you should try helping him." She said, Hikari looked up at her. "You're right, Princess. We gotta try to shake him out of his funk. Maybe you can get him to open up and feel better like Katherine did."  
"Thanks, Miyako." Kari said softly. "I'll try."  
Miyako smiled. "You remind me of Katherine in many ways, Princess. Like you, she always wanted people to feel better if they were feeling down."  
With that, Miyako turned away and strode out the room. Hikari promised to herself: 'I'll do what I have to, I'm gonna let Takeru get over his misery. No matter what.'  
  
Author's Note: Please Review. 


	6. Takeru Moves On

Author's Note: To the reviewers, thanks. Here's Chapter Six.  
  
Disclaimer: Refer to Chapter One.  
  
Story Title: Path to Sanctuary  
  
Chapter Title: Takeru Moves On  
  
Shuttle White Wolf, somewhere in space  
  
"Hikari," Mimi said. "I know that you've told me what he went through, but I don't think you should butt in."  
"Yeah, Sis." Taichi agreed. "It's none of our business."  
Hikari glared at them. "I'm helping him! PERIOD!" and with that she stormed out of the room she shared with Tai, Mimi, and Jyou.  
"Follow her." Mimi told Iori.  
Iori nodded curtly and followed Kari.  
Taichi sighed. "Everywhere she goes she always ends up with her own personal crusade, or crusades for that matter." The others nodded at what he said.  
"I hope she doesn't piss Takeru off, a guy like that could be dangerous." Daisuke remarked.  
"That isn't what I'm worried about." Tai said. "Takeru won't hurt her. I know Dbrojan, they're into duty & honor. Killing someone unarmed who isn't considered prey is going really low for them." Daisuke cocked an eyebrow. The Prince continued: "I'm worried that she'll develop an attachment for Takeru. I see it in her eyes, she's got a thing for him."  
"How's that a bad thing?" Jyou asked.  
"She's a princess, he's a freelancer. They could never be together and I do not want her heart broken."  
Mimi smirked. "Knowing Hikari, she'll go after Takeru whether you want her to or not."  
  
Takeru hurled the throwing disc at the plastic projectile the machine fired at him. The razor-edged metal disc slammed into the ovoid projectile, deflecting it away from Takeru. Practicing with his throwing discs always helped clear his mind. Another projectile rocketed toward him, he threw a disc right at it. Just as the disc hit the projectile he heard someone enter the cargo hold (he always practiced in the cargo hold). It was Princess Hikari.  
"Machine, deactivate." Takeru ordered the machine's control computer.  
"You're really good." The Princess said.  
"Thank you." Takeru said, putting on his fake smile.  
"How many years have you been doing that?"  
"Since I was five, we Dbrojan start combat training early."  
Hikari nodded. Takeru sighed, he knew that Hikari was trying to have him open up. One part of him was exasperated & wanted Hikari to stop. That part of him was telling him to end this conversation and tell Hikari off.  
Yet, another part of him said: 'Talk to her, let her help. Dwelling in the past will only hurt you, and so will keeping your emotions bottled up.'  
  
He shook his head. "Princess, I know what you're trying to do, and I appreciate it but-"  
Before he could finish, she countered: "If you appreciate it so much, then why won't you take the help I'm offering?"  
"I don't need your help." He said flatly.  
"Like hell you don't!" Hikari snapped, Iori, who quietly watched, winced. Hikari continued: "Look at you, you're a sad broken loser who can't even smile a real smile."  
"Takeru's eyes flared. Normally, things like that wouldn't provoke a response from him. But something about Hikari was getting to him. "And look at you! You buttt into other people's business."  
Iori's hand drifted to his pistol after Takeru's response, but Hikari just smiled triumphantly. Takeru's anger showed that she was getting to him. "Because it's my business to keep people like you from wallowing in grief."  
Takeru took a long breath. He composed himself and tried to put a smile on his face. "With all due respect, Princess." He said. "That's just arrogant."  
"So what?" she retorted. "If it'll take arrogance to help you, then so be it."  
"I've told you before, Princess, I don't need your help." Takeru picked up his throwing discs and started to turn away. But before he could leave, Hikari shouted.  
"You are PATHETIC, YOU KNOW THAT?! You can't even get over someone who's been dead for years!"  
Takeru whirled on her so fast that Iori reflexively pulled out his pistol and almost fired. Takeru didn't notice, his face an angry mask.  
'Good, I'm really getting through to him.' Hikari thought. She continued: "Why are you so angry? 'Cause it's true? Face it, you're just a poor sap living in the past, with nothing but the memories of a dead girlfriend to keep you company."  
Takeru balled his hands into fists, his right hand bled as it closed around the throwing discs he was holding. He was about to yell at Hikari, to tell her to back off.  
But then. Something flashed back to him. 'So, is that what you're gonna do, mope your whole life? You gotta move on. Your parents are dead, deal with it.' That's what Katherine had said when she tried to help him back then.  
He looked at Hikari's eyes, although her tone had been harsh, her eyes were kind and gentle. Just like Katherine's eyes had been when she said that. That was all it took, all his repressed emotions came rushing back at the realization. The bloodied throwing discs fell from his cut hand as his fist unclenched. He dropped to his knees. Iori's pistol moved away from him fractionally.  
"No. . ." he muttered. "You're wrong. . ."  
Hikari put her hand on his shoulder, she said gently: "You know that I'm not."  
"Your right. . ." he started to say, but then he broke down into sobs. He cried into Hikari's shoulders.  
"Your right," he bawled. "It's all been a waste. . . Katherine. . . what I. . . oh damn. . ." his words became incoherent as he sobbed some more.  
Hikari just held him, truth be told, she hadn't expected him to break down like this. She'd actually expected him to yell at her & storm off. "Let it all out, Takeru, let it all out."  
Takeru looked up at her and she looked at him. There was gratitude in his eyes, but also something else. Hikari looked deeply into his eyes, mesmerizing herself with the slight blue glow. They just stared into each other's eyes for a long time.  
The Princess suddenly realized what she was doing and blushed. She pulled back slightly as Takeru wiped away his tears. There was an awkward silence for a while before she spoke.  
"Takeru," she began. "I'm sorry for yelling at-"  
"No, don't be." Takeru said. "You were right. . . I was living in the past and losing myself in the process. It's time I moved on."  
He looked right at her face. "Thank you, Princess Yagami."  
Hikari smiled. "Don't call me Princess, I really hate titles. Just call me Kari, okay?"  
Takeru shook his head. "I can't. I told you, remember? To Dbrojan the shortening of a name is a grave insult. But, if you wish, I won't call you Princess."  
"Okay, just call me Hikari."  
Takeru nodded. Then, for the first time in years, he smiled a genuine smile.  
  
Kandoorit Stealth Stalker Dark Ocean, close behind the White Wolf  
  
Captain Mool'vishtal, commanding officer of the Stealth Stalker Dark Ocean, tapped his fingers impatiently on his command chair armrest. The intelligence supervisor beside him took note of this and smiled slightly.  
"Patience, Captain." Senior Intelligence Officer Tum'drashin said. "If we keep on following them like this not only will we capture the Imperial heirs, we will also find out the location of the Sanctuary base."  
Mool'vishtal scowled. He hated this mission and the intelligence officer assigned to supervise the mission. He wanted to be out in the front lines, fighting with his fellow warriors.  
But he was stuck with this intelligence mission and this arrogant intelligence officer. He looked at the smile on Tum'drashin's face & wished that he could kick it in. He restrained himself though, Tum'drashin was the son of Overseer Tum'blomekt, one of the highest ranking intelligence overseers. It wouldn't do to kick his son's face in.  
"The sooner this mission is over, the sooner me & my ship's crew can return to the front lines." The captain muttered.  
"Yes, yes." Tum'drashin hissed. "And the sooner you can go back and fight for your 'warrior's honor'. "  
The intelligence officer let the last two words drip in sarcasm. The captain's nostrils flared and he was about to jump up & attack the intelligence agent, but he composed himself. Tum'drashin just snickered silently at him. He scowled back.  
'Damned arrogant intelligence officer.' He thought to himself. 'After this mission is over I'd love to kick you in your balls!'  
  
Author's Note: Well, that's all for this chapter. I think the moving-on part is a little corny, but what the heck? As always, after reading please review. 


	7. Calm Before the Storm

Author's Note: To anyone reading this story I apologize for taking so long to update. I actually lost the notebook I wrote this story in, luckily I've found it now.  
  
Disclaimer: Refer to Charter 1.  
  
Story Title: Path to Sanctuary  
  
Chapter Title: Calm Before the Storm  
  
Shuttle White Wolf, somewhere in space  
  
Daisuke observed Princess Hikari and Takeru with slight envy. The two had gotten closer since the incident in the cargo hold (Iori had told the others about it). Daisuke was envious since, like most of the male population of the Ambloni Empire, he had a slight crush on the Princess.  
But it was only a crush, he had no illusions about the Princess being his. He watched as Takeru smiled at something the Princess did.  
'They look pretty happy with each other.' One part of Daisuke's mind thought. But at the same time another part asked: 'What will Princess Hikari do when the time comes for them to part?'  
"Hikari, please," he heard Takeru say. "I'm trying to run a diagnostic on this power relay."  
"Aw, come on." Hikari said. "You may have started to smile again but I still haven't seen you laugh. I'm not leaving here 'til I do."  
Daisuke smiled slightly at that and shook his head. Then, he spun around quickly as he heard footsteps behind him. It was Yamato Ishida, Takeru's brother. Yamato nodded politely in greeting. He stood beside Daisuke and observed his brother and the Princess quietly.  
"Excuse me," Yamato whispered after observing the two for a short while. "May I ask something of you?"  
"What?" Daisuke asked cautiously.  
"Would you please convey my j'kelq'z, my thanks, to Princess Hikari?"  
"Thanks?" Daisuke wondered. "What for?"  
Yamato smiled slightly. "For a long time my brother had been incapable of smiling a real smile. The Princess has given that ability back to him. For that, I give my sincere thanks to her."  
"Why don't you just tell her yourself?" Daisuke asked.  
Yamato shook his head. "I don't want to bother those two right now. When you have the opportunity could you please convey my gratitude?"  
Daisuke shrugged. "Sure, why not?"  
"J'kelq'auy, I mean, thank you." Yamato said, turning and walking away.  
Daisuke cocked an eyebrow. He shrugged and turned back to watch the Princess. He would pass the Dbrojan's thanks later. He too did not want to interrupt the two.  
  
Imperial Command Bunker, Amblona, Ambloni Empire  
  
"Do we have long range communications yet?" the Emperor asked in an urgent tone.  
"I'm sorry, You're Highness. That infiltrator's computer virus has infected every system in the Palace and the Bunker." A comm officer said.  
The Emperor turned to a palace guard officer. "Major, are you sure that was the last of the infiltrators?"  
"Yes, Your Majesty. All other personnel in the palace have been checked out and are accounted for." The Major reported.  
Suddenly, a soldier ran towards the Emperor, a look of urgency on his face. "Your Majesty! We have just received reports that the soldier the Kandoorit infiltrator was disguised as was part of the team that inspected the shuttle the Imperial Heirs were on!"  
The Emperor's face hardened. He whirled on one of the comm officers in the Bunker. "Contact any forces you can get a hold of! Ours or from our allies, tell them to track down the shuttle the Prince and Princess are on!"  
The comm officer nodded curtly and started to do as the Emperor ordered. The Emperor leaned back on his chair with an agitated expression. His mind thought: 'If the reports are accurate then that infiltrator must have placed a tracking device on that shuttle. If that shuttle is being tracked then we need to send as much forces as we can to aid them!"  
  
Kandoorit Stealth Stalker Dark Ocean, closely behind the White Wolf  
  
"Sir!" an engineer screamed. "Our cloaking field is destabilizing!"  
Captain Mool'vishtal cursed. 'Why now?!' raged his mind. As effective as the cloaking devices were, they were notorious for having lots of problems.  
"Stabilize it at once!" he roared. "We cannot afford discovery now, they have not led us to the Sanctuary base yet!"  
Tum'drashin couldn't resist, he sneered. "And I thought this ship was one of the best of its kind in the fleet."  
Mool'vishtal whirled on the intelligence officer. "Listen here you simpering whelp, mw and my crew are only doing this mission because Warlord Nor'klemosk lent our ship to Intelligence."  
He shot a finger at Tum'drashin's face. "If you don't keep your snide remarks to yourself I'm gonna turn this ship around. GOT IT?!"  
The intelligence officer smirked and bowed mockingly. "As you wish."  
Mool'vishtal snarled and turned away. He clicked the intercom. "Well?!"  
"We're trying, sir." The engineer said. "We still can't fully compensate, but the stats indicate that the shuttle still cannot detect us."  
"That's not good enough, Chief Engineer." The captain said. "At this distance we cannot risk anything but optimal output. We must not be detected."  
"Yes, sir."  
Mool'vishtal let out a long breath. So far, the cloaking field was still stable enough to avoid detection. He didn't want anything to interfere with this mission, the less problems occur the faster it would finish.  
Off to one side, Tum'drashin was watching the captain with amusement. He'd seen this type of officer before, impatient, intolerant, and fanatical. These attributes made a warrior dedicated, but also easy to irritate. And Tum'drashin loved to irritate military officers.  
"Maybe you should relax, Captain." Tum'drashin said. Then, he added in a sarcastic tone: "I have faith in this ship's cloaking technology."  
The Captain's nostrils flared at that. He griped the armrest of his command chair hard in an effort to stay in control.  
This, of course, just served to amuse Tum'drashin even more. He laughed silently. 'This is so much fun!'  
  
Author's Note: I know, it's kinda rotten of me to leave this short chapter after mot updating for so long. But I promise to try to update as soon as I can. The last few chapters of this fic are getting overhauled so it may take a while. Please review. 


	8. The Attack

Author's Note: Finally, I've finished rewriting Chapter 8! But somehow it still doesn't seem right. Oh well, here it is anyway.  
  
Disclaimer: Refer to Chapter One.  
  
Story Title: Path to Sanctuary  
  
Chapter Title: The Attack  
  
Shuttle White Wolf, somewhere in deep space  
  
Takeru smiled, genuinely this time, as he monitored the readouts from the copilot's terminal. Yamato took note of Takeru's demeanor and smiled slightly to himself. Takeru didn't notice, his mind was on Princess Hikari.  
He was still unsure about his feelings for the Ambloni Princess. He knew he felt something but he was reluctant to call it love. A small part of his mind told him that he was being unfaithful to Katherine, but a more logical part reminded him that Katherine was dead.  
He could recall Katherine's death now with out being consumed by grief. Something he hadn't been able to do before Hikari had gotten him out of his funk. He thought to himself: 'Thanks, Princess. You really got my head out of my ass.'  
Suddenly the sensor screen flickered, shaking him out of his thoughts. He frowned, that had been the eight time the screen had flickered in that same spot. Noticing Takeru's frown, Yamato asked in Dbrojan: "V'pulh v'kejz, Takeru?"(What's wrong, Takeru?)  
"Zunij'kolh v'pulh, fe zdi'ilz epie zeni g'mod'qipf joniz ioh'kj." Takeru replied.(Something's not right, the screen has flickered in the same area eight times.)  
Koushiro overheard the conversation, he understood a little Dbrojan. He said: "Relax, Takeru. It's probably just a glitch."  
Takeru and Yamato nodded, but both still frowned. Their instincts told them that something wasn't right. Their hands hovered near the weapons & shielding panel, ready to activate the shuttle's weapons and shields.  
The White Wolf was an Sh-87 shuttle made by the Pazonin Design Bureau. The PDB was renowned since the Great Interstellar War for creating shuttlecraft that could outmaneuver and outfight fightercraft. Not only that, this particular Sh-87's weapons had been vastly upgraded.  
Originally, the shuttle had one forward-facing, rapid-fire plasma gun; two forward-facing missile tubes with five missiles per tube; and two double-barreled laser defense turrets, one on top and one on the bottom.  
Now, it had two laser guns to support the forward-facing plasma gun; a third missile tube that faced backward; a quad-barreled top laser defense turret; and a gattling plasma gun turret on the bottom.  
Takeru and Yamato had out flown & out fought pirates and hijackers with the White Wolf before. But, they knew that there were enemies with far more powerful craft after the Ambloni Imperial Heirs. And something told them that at least one of such enemies already knew where they were. . .  
  
Kandoorit Stealth Stalker Dark Ocean, behind the White Wolf  
  
Captain Mool'vishtal grimaced, the engineers still hadn't managed to completely stabilize the cloaking field. The field still kept them undetectable, but only at constant readjustments. He covertly turned his eyes to Tum'drashin, who stood beside him.  
The intelligence officer had stopped verbally mocking him, although the mocking grin was still there. For the umpteenth time Mool'vishtal wished that he could throttle Tum'drashin. The intelligence officer's show of disrespect aboard his ship was driving him to the limits of his patience.  
Suddenly, alarms started going off inside the ship. Mool'vishtal demanded: "What's going on?"  
"Sir! Engineering reports that the cloaking field has failed!"  
"WHAT?!"  
"The cloaking generators have completely malfunctioned, we are visible now!"  
The Captain's grip on the armrests of his command chair tightened. Looking outside, he saw that the shuttle they were stalking had started to speed up.  
"Sir!" yelled one of the bridge officers. "Target shuttle has armed weapons and shields. It's speed has also increased!"  
"I KNOW!" the Captain snapped. "Activate tractor beams & shields, arm weapons. Set all weapons on disruption setting, we need the passengers on that shuttle alive!"  
"Well, Captain." Tum'drashin spoke. "It looks like this mission will be over sooner than expected. You must be happy, you can go back to the frontlines earlier than you expected."  
Mool'vishtal glared at the intelligence officer and screamed. "SHUT UP, YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SCUM!! IF YOU DON'T SHUT YOUR TRAP RIGHT NOW I'LL TURN THE DAMNED SHIP AROUND AND YOU CAN FORGET ABOUT THIS MISSION!!!"  
Tum'drashin just bowed slightly and gave him a mocking smile. It took all of the Captain's will power not to shoot the intellience officer in the head. He promised to himself: 'After this is all over I'll throw that asshole right out of the nearest airlock!'  
  
Shuttle White Wolf  
  
Takeru & Yamato had armed the shields & weapons the instant the flickerind on the screen solidified. Yamato accelerated the shuttle just as Takeru fired a missile from the rear tube.  
The Dark Ocean's shields had not yet come up when the missile slammed into it causing some damage. But Takeru knew that was far from enough.  
"HIT!" Miyako yelled as she and Ken the dfense turrets above and below the shuttle.  
Yamato put the shuttle into high gear, he had to go hyperlight before the Kandoorit ship could capture them. Suddenly, he felt a shock run through the ship as a disruption burst from the Kandoorit ship hit home. The burst knocked out the shuttle's systems partially. Yamato swore slightly as he got the shuttle back in control.  
"What the hell is goin' on?!" Daisuke yelled, barging into the cockpit followed by the other passengers.  
"We got company!" Koushiro said tersely, Daisuke and the other pasengers looked at the screen and paled.  
"That's a Kandoorit Stealth Stalker!" Iori breathed.  
"Yup, and it's probably been tagging along for a while." Koushiro grunted. "You'd better grab onto something, this is gonna get rough."  
Just as Koushiro warned them Yamato pulled the shuttle into a tight roll, avoiding a disruption burst from the Kandoorit vessel. This maneuver threw everyone who hadn't been holding onto something around the shuttle's cockpit.  
"What are you tryin' to do, kill us?!" Mimi hollered.  
Yamato didn't answer as he threw the shuttle into a steep dive. The disruption burst missed the shutle by a hair length.  
  
The Dark Ocean  
  
"Can you at least HIT them?!" Mool'vishtal raged at his crew. He had been really pissed off when the shuttle had managed to hit his ship with a missile before the shields had been activated.  
He was even angrier, now, since his gunners seemed to often miss the shuttle, although they had managed to land a good hit. But that hadn't been enough.  
"Don't tell me a ship with this fire power can't stop a little shuttle." Tum'drashin chided. The Captain snarled violently. He was about to scream at the intelligence officer before he stopped himself. 'No, not now. I need to concentrate on the capturing the shuttle now.' He thought.  
He shot a look at Tum'drashin. 'I'll chew this bastard out later.'  
"Is the tractor beam up yet?" he asked impatiently.  
"Yes, sir! It just came on line now." Answered a crewman.  
"Then what're you waiting for?" The Captain asked. "Use it!"  
  
Shuttle White Wolf  
  
Takeru felt a jolt as another disruption burst slammed into the shuttle. Many of the shuttle's systems started to flicker as the disruption burst disrupted the shuttle's power.  
"Guns are dead!" Koushiro shouted. The burst had shut down the shuttle's systems. "We're defenseless."  
"Get us the hell outta here!" Sora yelled at Yamato & Takeru. "NOW!"  
Takeru started to reach for the hyperlight drive controls when another shock was felt through the shuttle.  
'Must've been another disruption burst.' He thought grimly.  
Then: "I can't get control!" Yamato said. "They've got us hooked."  
'What?!' Takeru thought, but at that same moment it dawned on him: 'That shock must've been a tractor beam!'  
"Shit!" Daisuke cursed. ""We gotta get away. Crank the engines with all the power that you can!"  
Yamato shook his head. "Our engines are dead, we can't pull away."  
"We can't let them get the Price and Princess!" yelled Daisuke.  
"I've got an idea." Takeru said calmly, he turned to Koushiro. "Koushiro, are the systems in the forward portion still active?"  
"Yeah, but not fully." Koushiro answered in a confused tone.  
Takeru looked at his brother. At the glance Yamato understood. "Try to bring it up to full power, Yamato & I will buy you some time."  
Koushiro frowned, he didn't understand at first. But then, he remembered. "Of course, the escape module function of the cockpit! I forgot that we had that recently installed." Then his eyes narrowed. "But to buy us some time you'd have to-"  
Takeru didn't let him finish, the Dbrojan turned to Daisuke and said: "You and the others stay here. Me and my brother will buy you time."  
Daisuke frowned. "What do you mean?"  
It was Yamato who answered. "The Kandoorit will board this shuttle soon. We'll hold them off while Koushiro powers up the forward escape module."  
"Are you nuts?" Sora said. "You can't fight all those Kandoorit yourselves, it's suicide!"  
"We can hold them off long enough for the module to power upand detach." Takeru said. Yamato nodded in agreement.  
"And what about you?" Hikari asked, a part of her realizing what Takeru was saying.  
Takeru & Yamato shrugged. "What about us?"  
"You'll be left behind!"  
"It'll give you the chance to escape."  
"NO!" Hikari screamed. "I won't allow it! I won't allow you to do any stupid heroics. I don't want anymore sacrifices because of me!"  
"Me too." Taichi said. "We can't ask you to do that for us. You're not even Ambloni, you shouldn't do this."  
"When we agreed to get you to Sanctuary it became our duty to insure that that happens." Yamato said. "We must complete that duty."  
"To heck with all of your damned duty shit!" Hikari yelled. "I won't let you sacrifice youselves!"  
Takeru said nothing, he looked at Yamato. His brother nodded, too much time had been wasted. Takeru turned to Koushiro. A sad look passed Koushiro's face, but he nodded as well.  
Before anyone could react, the two Dbrojan bolted out of the cockpit and went toward the cargo hold. Hikari ran after them. But a blast door suddenly came down, stopping her in her tracks. She turned. It was Koushiro, he had flicked the switch that closed the blast door.  
"What are you doing?!" Hikari screamed. "I gotta stop them! You've gotta stop them!"  
Koushiro shook his head sadly. "They're Dbrojan, once they've made up their minds there's nothing you can say or do to stop them."  
"What're you saying?!" She demanded. "Those are your friends! How can you just let them sacrifice themselves like that?"  
Koushiro just looked at her sadly and said nothing. He turned to Miyako & Ken. "Power it up, guys." He said softly in a sad tone.  
"TAKERU!" Hikari screamed, banging on the blast door. "Don't do this! You don't have to do this! Takeru!"  
But her yells went unheard, buffered by the sound-proof blast door.  
  
Author's Note: Well, that's all for Chapter 8. I'll try to post Chapter 9 as soon as I can. Please review. 


	9. Boarded

Author's Note: Finally, Chapter 9. To the people reading this fic sorry for the long wait. College is pure academic heck. Anyway, on with the Chapter.  
  
Disclaimer: Refer to Chapter One  
  
Story Title: Path to Sanctuary  
  
Chapter Title: Boarded  
  
"We have captured the shuttle, Captain." Reported one of the bridge officers. Captain Mool'vishtal smiled and nodded.  
"Very good." He said. "Board the shuttle and capture the Ambloni Imperial Heirs. Use only stun weapons, they must be taken alive."  
"Yes sir." Answered the officer before relaying the orders.  
Captain Mool'vishtal smirked at the intelligence officer. He said: "You see, Tum'drashin? My crew knows what they're doing. Ido not know why I didn't think of it before but we could've just captured them in the first place and forcer them to reveal Sanctuary's location."  
Tum'drashin just smirked back. "It took you this long to realize that?"  
"What do you mean?" Captain Mool'vishtal asked, eyes narrowing.  
"I knew we could've done that in the first place. But it wouldn't have been as much fun without the stalking chase. Would you not agree?"  
The bridge crew winced as they saw the aura of rage that projected from the Captain after the intelligence officer's statement. But Tum'drashin just smiled and leered at the Captain, making him even angrier.  
Some of the bridge officers sighed. They had witnessed this particular scene again and again over the past few days. Now, it was getting really redundant.  
  
Shuttle White Wolf  
  
Hikari sat by the blast door, she had stopped yelling. She thought of the two Dbrojan that had gone out to their certain deaths. And for what? For her, FOR HER!  
'Why?' she thought. 'Why do all these people die because of me?' first the palace guards who had been shot protecting her from Kandoorit assassins, now the two Dbrojan were going to do the same. She was sick of it, sick of all the lives given or about to be given for her safety. Sick, sick, sick. . .  
She thought of Takeru, she had only known him for the short time they had been together and she'd fallen for him. Yes, she loved him. The sad Dbrojan had managed to make her fall for him.  
'I just managed to make him smile again.' She thought bitterly. 'I wanted to make him laugh, to see him laugh.' But now she was never gonna see him laugh, because he and his brother were gonna die for her. For her. . . []  
Takeru and Yamato waited, weapons at the ready. LP-9 heavy laser pistols in their right hands while their left hands ready to reach into their overcoats for either throwing discs or knives.  
Yamato looked at brother. He saw Takeru smiling a genuine smile. Yamato smiled sadly. 'Waiting for a dutiful death with a smile. You truly are an honorably dutiful Dbrojan, my brother.' Yamato thought proudly.  
"It's a pity." Yamato said.  
"Huh?" Takeru asked quizzically.  
"It's a pity. You've just learned to truly smile again, but now you have to die."  
Takeru just smiled. "At least I've learned to smile again before I die."  
"Yes," Yamato said. "And at least we die together, dutifully."  
"Uyp moji ruc'fyja oz." Takeru said solemnly. (Our life is duty.)  
"Uyp faij'kz ruc'fyja gup." Yamato replied. (Our deaths for duty.)  
Takeru nodded. "Kyl'jolh ho'of, Yamato Ishida." (Good hunting, Yamato Ishida.)  
"Kyl'jolh ho'of, Takeru Takaishi." Answered Yamato.  
Then, an explosion sounded out as the Kandoorit blasted a hole in the cargo hold. Seconds later, Kandoorit soldiers poured into the shuttle. []  
"The Kandoorit are in!" Miyako reported.  
"We're not powered up yet!" Ken said.  
"Don't worry." Koushiro said in a blank tone. "Takeru and Yamato will give us some time."  
Koushiro felt a pang of guilt as he said those words. 'Those are your friends! How can you let them sacrifice themselves like that?' the words of the Princess repeated themselves in his mind. He looked at the Princess, she had curled to a ball beside the blast door. Tears streaming down her face, saying nothing.  
'I should've stopped them.' Koushiro thought. 'But it was their plan. They were willing to do it.' Argued another part of his mind. 'But I should've stopped them,' he thought again. 'I should've found another way to buy time.' The other part of his mind argued again: 'But there was no other way, and you know it!'  
He shook his head, trying to shake the guilt away. 'I won't waste Takeru and and Yamato's sacrifice. I need to focus.' He thought. But no matter how hard he tried, his mind always kept repeating the fact that he had allowed his friends to go to their certain doom. []  
Takeru rolled out of the way just as a stun blast from a Kandoorit soldier's stun gun hit the area he had been on a second ago. He quickly shot the Kandoorit in the head. Seeing another soldier attacking, he grabbed a throwing disc and hurled it at him. The soldier fell dead.  
Yamato was doing the same, moving and dodging deftly while raining deadly laser blasts and throwing discs on the enemy. His Dbrojan hunting skills put to use with very lethal results.  
But there were too many Kandoorit. Most of the rear of the shuttle was littered with dead Kandoorit bodies, but they kept on coming. Pushing back the two valiant Dbrojan slowly but surely. Already, the Kandoorit had taken the cargo hold. Now, they were starting to move toward the forward half of the shuttle.  
Yamato and Takeru kept on fighting. They had run out of throwing discs and laser charges. But they still had knives, and the deadly hunting skills of Dbrojan.  
A Kandoorit soldier yelled wildly as he tried to bludgeon Takeru with his stun rifle. Takeru dodged deftly and brought up his knives. Both of his arms snapped forward, scissoring the Kandoorit soldier's throat betwwen the blades of his knives. The soldier fell dead, blood vessels in the throat severed.  
Takeru didn't slow down. He jumped on another soldier, slamming his knives into him. One in the heart and the other in the head. The soldier died without knowing what hit him.  
Yamato fought just as fiercely, his arms blurring as he attacked the Kandoorit soldiers with fast and brutal slashes. Another Kandoorit soldier lay dead, chest and throat laid open. And still Yamato fought on.  
But the Kandoorit didn't let up either, more & more soldiers poured in. Many weren't as confident as before, now that they saw many of their comrades dead. But some were beginning to regain their confidence, seeing the Dbrojan beginning to tire. The Kandoorit soldiers let out a collective war cry as they charged the Dbrojan. []  
Hikari's head snapped up as she heard the Kandoorit war cry. The cry had been loud enough and close enough to be heard through the sound proof blast door. The Princess' eyes went wide as she realized that the Kandoorit were right on the other side of the blast door. She also realized that Takeru and Yamato were on the other side too. Still fighting the Kandoorit.  
"Open the door!" the Princess demanded, whirling on Koushiro. "Let Takeru and Yamato in!"  
Koushiro grit his teeth. He was tempted to let his friends in. He wanted to, but he shook his head. "No, the Kandoorit would just rush in after them."  
"How can you be that COLD?!" Hikari demanded. "Your friends might die and you don't care?"  
Koushiro looked up. "Believe me, Princess. I care. Those two are my friends and I wanna let them in as much as you, I wanna save them. But you know very well that the Kandoorit will rush in the second that door is open. If that happens, Takeru and Yamato's gesture would be wasted.  
"Would you do that, Princess? Would you waste their sacrifice?"  
"I'd rather not sacrifice them at all!" Hikari screamed. ""LET THEM IN!"  
Koushiro grit his teeth even more. He asked in a soft tone. "Are we powered up yet?"  
Miyako and Ken sighed sadly. "Yeah."  
"Do it." Koushiro said.  
"NO!!!" screamed Hikari. "You asshole! Don't do it! Don't leave them! Do you hear me?! Don't-"  
Hikari's screaming was suddenly cut of as the shuttle jerked hard. It had detached. []  
Takeru felt the jolt as the forward module detached. He smiled. He had done his duty. He looked at the Kandoorit soldiers.  
"I have done my duty," Takeru taunted. "You have failed yours."  
This served to enrage the Kandoorit. They howled in fury as they collectively attacked Takeru and Yamato.  
Yamato and Takeru knew that this was the end. But they were not afraid. They had done their duty, and that was all that mattered.  
They fought furiously as the Kandoorit rushed them. They managed to kill a few more and injure several more. But they were finally overwhelmed by the sheer number of Kandoorit. They felt themselves slammed against the wall as every Kandoorit soldier started to beat them brutally.  
Takeru felt his consciousness slipping away as blow after brutal blow was rained on his body.  
"Thanks. . . for the smile. . .Hikari. . ." he mummbled as his surroundings went dark.  
  
Author's Note: Well, that was Chapter 9. I know, I know, kinda bad for me to leave with a cliffhanger. But I promise to try to post the last two chapters as soon as I can. Thank you, please review. 


	10. Help Arrives

Author's Note: Hey, I'm back with Chapter 10. Wow, this is my fastest update on FanFiction.net so far. Anyway, here's 10.  
  
Disclaimer: Refer to Chapter One  
  
Story Title: Path to Sanctuary  
  
Chapter Title: Help Arrives  
  
Kandoorit Stealth Stalker Dark Ocean  
  
"ARRGGHHH!!" Mool'vishtal raged, slamming his fists on his command chair's armrests. He was enraged both from the fact that TWO Dbrojan had slaughtered several of his soldiers ad from the fact that the Imperial Heirs had escaped from his grasp.  
"After them!" he screamed. The crew scrambled to obey. The soldiers in the rear half of the shuttle were pulled back, the rear half was then jettisoned. The Dark Ocean then sped after the White Wolf's forward escape module.  
"Looks like your crew isn't as good as you think, Captain." chided Tum'drashin. The Captain's temper flared. He had taken insult after insult from the intelligence officer, and he had had enough.  
He drew his pistol and shot the intelligence officer right in the stomach. The crew winced but they weren't surprised. After all the verbal abuse they had witnessed the Captain take, they actually expected this to happen.  
Tum'drashin looked at the Captain, a shocked look had replaced his usual mocking expression. Mool'vishtal sneered. "I finally managed to wipe that smug look off your face, you bastard."  
"M-my father w-will have your head f-for this." The intelligence officer stammered.  
"I don't think so." Taunted Mool'vishtal. "When I capture the Imperial Heirs it will be such a great victory that no amount of Overseer Tum'blomekt's influence will be able to convince anyone to have me executed."  
"You. . . you. . ." weakly mumbled the intelligence officer.  
Mool'vishtal smiled. "I've wanted to do this for a long time."  
He pointed the pistol at Tum'drashin's head. "Good bye, asshole."  
He pulled the trigger.  
  
Shuttle White Wolf forward escape module  
  
Koushiro felt like dirt. No, he felt like shit. One more opportunity to save his friends had presented itself, and what did he do? He didn't take it, instead he had allowed them to be left behind while he spouted self- righteous crap about respecting their sacrifice. What an asshole he was.  
He looked at the Princess, she was sobbing on the module's floor. Her brother and the other passengers tried to comfort her, but she was oblivious to them. Koushiro turned away, he couldn't bear it. 'That was the only way, there was nothing else that could've been done.' A logical part of his mind repeated.  
'Yeah, keep repeating that to yourself if it makes you feel better.' Another part of his mind thought bitterly. 'But, truth is, you left them behind you piece of shit.'  
"Incoming disruption bursts!" Ken suddenly yelled, snapping Koushiro out of his bitter thoughts.  
"Hold on!" Koushiro said as he pulled the module into hard maneuvers.  
"Hyperlight, NOW!" Sora yelled at him.  
"I can't, that ship's too close!"  
"To hell with it!" Iori said. "Just do it!"  
"We try to do it this close and the gravitational force of the hyperlight field will most likely pull us right into the nearest collection of dense matter. Namely, THAT SHIP!"  
"Well, try to get as far away as possible!" Prince Taichi yelled.  
"DUH! What the heck do you think I'm trying to do?!" Koushiro retorted.  
Koushiro jerked the module to one side just as a disruption burst flew by. He hit the acceleration controls, shooting the module forward at great speed. But, to his dismay, the Dark Ocean easily caught up.  
'Isn't this just great.' He thought sarcastically. 'After all my self- righteous blathering, Takeru and Yamato's sacrifice will still end up as a wasted gesture.  
As if on cue, he felt a jolt just as a tractor beam hooked the module.  
'Well, Koushiro." He thought bitterly. 'How does it fell to sacrifice friends uselessly?'  
But just as the thought finished in his head, Miyako suddenly yelled: "We've got new signals!"  
"Oh damn, not more Kandoorit?" Taichi asked.  
"No," Ken said excitedly. "They're Nason!"  
"WHAT?!" was the collective exclamation of the others. Koushiro looked at the vid screen and, sure enough, he saw the images of five Nason warships.  
"Expedient-class war cutters!" Miyako said.  
Expedient-class war cutters were small, but exceedingly well-armed Nason ships. Alone, a war cutter would be no match for a Kandoorit Stealth Stalker which was three-times the size. But five of them were more than enough to stop the Dark Ocean.  
They watched as the five Nason ships ganged up on the Dark Ocean and pounded it with wave after wave of energy weapons fire and missiles.  
  
The Dark Ocean  
  
"NO!" the Captain screamed. All had been going well until those Nason ships had appeared out of hyperlight. They were small, but also well-armed & fast. They had surrounded his ship quickly and started bombarding it weapons. Worse, his ship's weapons were still on disruption settings, which meant he couldn't fight back.  
"Sir! Weapons are down!" reported one crewman.  
"Hull breaches in several sections!" screamed another.  
"Shields gone!" yelled one more.  
But the Captain wasn't listening. He had failed. It was an intelligence mission, but a mission nonetheless. And he had failed miserably. It seemed that Tum'drashin's father would have a reason to execute him after all.  
He shot a look at the dead body of the intelligence officer he'd shot. He smiled crookedly. 'At least I got one thing done.' He thought. 'Looks like I'll be seeing you in hell sooner than I thought, Tum'drashin.'  
He stood up. "Commander Del'redigh."  
"Yes, sir?" his First Officer replied.  
"Commander Del'redigh I put you in command of the Dark Ocean." Mool'vishtal said evenly. "Get the ship and the men out of here, this mission is lost."  
Then, before the First Officer could reply, the Captain took his pistol and jammed the muzzle to the side of his head.  
"Long live the Sovereign Kandoorit Cluster!" the Captain proclaimed. He shot himself.  
  
Shuttle White Wolf forward escape module  
  
Koushiro looked in silence as the battered Kandoorit ship turned, sped away, then disappeared into hyperlight. He just sat watching the screen in stunned silence. They were saved. They were actually saved!  
"Incoming transmission." Ken reported.  
"Answer it." Jyou said. "Answer our allies.  
A green-haired, middle aged Nason appeared on the communications screen. "Greetings Your Imperial Highnesses, greetings Lady Mimi and Lord Jyou. Colonel Vakomi Ghanov of the Nason Aerospace Forces at your service."  
"H-how did. . ." Taichi stammered.  
"How did we find you?" The Colonel smiled. "We received an emergency transmission from directly from the Ambloni Imperial Bunker. It appeared that their communications had been sabotaged and that we were the only forces they could reach. Anyway, they said that you might be in danger. Based on the rough coordinate plots from Ambloni Intelligence, we were able to find you. After a few misses, of course."  
Koushiro suddenly remembered that Takeru and Yamato were still in the other half of the shuttle, and that they might still be alive. He was about to say something when Hikari beat him to it.  
"Takeru!" Hikari suddenly yelped. "Colonel! You have to find Takeru and Yamato!"  
"Take-who? And Yama-who?" the Colonel asked, puzzled.  
"The other half of the shuttle, it's floating around here somewhere." Hikari said hurriedly. "There are two Dbrojan there, they're friends. You need to find them! They might be really hurt!"  
The Colonel frowned, he turned to regard an officer whom the White Wolf's passengers couldn't see on the screen. After a short while the Colonel Ghanov turned back. "Yes, it appears that one of my groups ships has stumbled upon a portion of an Sh-87 shuttle. They're taking it in their bay now. If your friends are there, we'll find them."  
Colonel Ghanov continued: "But fist things first, we must take you to Sanctuary. Please get aboard this ship's cargo bay. We'll inform you of your friends' conditions once we have find them."  
Koushiro nodded and proceeded to steer the module toward the Nason ship's shuttle bay. Hikari sat down, agitated. 'Takeru has to be alive.' She thought. 'He has to be!"  
  
Author's Note: Are Takeru and Yamato still alive? You'll have to find out in the next and last chapter which I will post either this Friday or the weekend. Tanks for waiting and reading, please review. 


	11. Sanctuary

Author's Note: Finally, here it is, the last chapter to my second FanFiction.net fic. Thank you so much to the people who've read and/or reviewed this story.  
  
Disclaimer: Refer to the Chapter One  
  
Story Title: Path to Sanctuary  
  
Chapter Title: Sanctuary  
  
Sanctuary Base, Location: Secret  
  
Takeru stirred, he opened his eyes slowly. He was confused and disoriented. Where was he? What happened? He looked around his surroundings.  
He was on a bed in an unpainted room with composite-alloy walls and several pieces of medical equipment. It took him a moment to realize that the medical equipment was attached to him. 'Why would medical equipment be attached to me?' he thought at first.  
Then, he remembered. The White Wolf, the Princess, Kandoorit, he and his brother fighting Kandoorit. He suddenly became more alert. Was he on a Kandoorit ship? Was he a prisoner?  
He looked closely at the readouts on the medical equipment. He relaxed slightly, the readouts were displayed in Ambloni characters not Kandoorit. Then, he frowned.  
Why would he be in an Ambloni medical bay? Hadn't he and his brother chosen to remain behind to buy the White Wolf's escape module time to power up? Did the crew of the White Wolf come back for him and his brother? Where was his brother? What happened to the Kandoorit?  
His mind kept on asking question after question. But he couldn't come up with any answers. He felt someone moving at his side. He turned his head and saw Princess Hikari, sleeping by his bedside.  
"Hi. . .ka. . .ri?" he mumbled.  
The Princess' eyes opened suddenly, as if she had been waiting for him to wake up. And, from the looks of it, she probably had.  
"TAKERU! You're awake!" the Princess yelped joyously. She was about to hug Takeru, but stopped when she remembered that Takeru was hurt.  
"Wha-what. . ." he mumbled, confused.  
The Princess smiled, tears of joy in her eyes. "I've been waiting for you to wake up. You really had me worried, you big dope."  
"How? What? Where?" Takeru said, still confused.  
"Do you remember what happened before. . ." she trailed off, smile disappearing. "Before you were left behind?"  
"I-I remember fighting Kandoorit." Takeru said. His face contorted in a frown as he tried to remember. "I remember the shuttle module detaching then. . .nothing."  
"You shouldn't have done that." The Princess said. "It turned out to be a useless gesture."  
"Huh?"  
"After you got left behind the White Wolf's module tried to escape, but the Kandoorit ship just caught up with us and tractor beamed us again."  
Takeru frowned. "Then how. . ."  
"We were lucky." Continued the Princess. " Turns out that the Palace Bunker suspected that we were being tracked. They managed to contact a Nason patrol which came to our aid."  
Hikari frowned. "You didn't need to sacrifice yourselves. The Nason would have just found us and freed us. There was no reason for you & your brother to get left behind, to get hurt."  
Takeru let that sink in for a moment then replied: "We needed to do it. If we didn't, we'd probably heve been aboard that Kandoorit ship and en route to Kandoorit High Command before the Nason could've found us."  
"Don't give me that!" the Princess snapped. "You know what I went through when you bolted out that door? When we broke of the module without you?"  
A slight look of guilt passed Takeru's face. Seeing this, the Princess softened her expression and said: "Sorry, I was being selfish. But I don't ever wanna have people throw their lives away for me again. I'm sick of that."  
"Duty be damned!" said the Princess. "I'm just sick of that. Sick of people getting killed or hurt because they think it's their duty to do so. I hate that."  
Hikari looked at him. "And look at how much you and your brother were hurt."  
Takeru looked at himself. He looked again at the tubes and wires attached to his body. He turned to the Princess. "When will I get out of this?" he asked.  
"The doctor said you could get out of bed in a few days. Your brother will need about a week."  
"Where is my brother?" Takeru asked.  
"Yamato's in another room." Hikari answered. "He woke up a few hours ago, but he still keeps on slipping back to unconsciousness."  
Takeru's face frowned in concern. The Princess reassured him. "Don't worry. The doctor says he's fine. You Dbrojan are made of tough stuff."  
Takeru nodded, but he was still concerned for his brother. He turned to the Princess. "Where are we?"  
"Sanctuary." Hikari said, she smiled. "Yup, Takeru. You did it, you got us here."  
Takeru just stared at her for a moment. Then, for the first time in a long while, he laughed. "We were prepared to give our lives for our duty and we still come out alive." He shook his head. "Luck must like us, a lot."  
The Princess shook her head. "You dope." Was all she said she leaned over and put her lips on Takeru's. Takeru's eyes bulged in surprise, he had not expected that.  
At first, the kiss was simple and gentle. But then the Princess got more passionate. Takeru wasn't really sure what was going on, but he didn't push Hikari away. The Princess suddenly pulled back, blushing in embarrassment.  
"Hikari. . . wha-what?" Takeru stuttered.  
The Princess looked away for a moment. The she turned back. "Takeru, over the time we spent together I've gotten to know you. I've gotten to see the kind, caring Dbrojan behind the sad, empty one. And well, I've. . . " she paused. "I've fallen for you Takeru. I love you."  
Takeru was silent for a moment, stunned. "Hikari," he began. "I'm not that sure about my feelings for you, yet. But it's starting to feel pretty close to what I felt for Katherine."  
He continued. "Thank you so much for helping me get my head out of my ass. I'm really grateful for that. But. . ." he paused. "I don't think we can be together."  
"Why?" the Princess asked, hurt.  
"Because you're an Ambloni Imperial Princess, I'm just a simple Dbrojan freelancer. What will your family say about that?"  
"Ah, screw 'em!" Hikari said. "Besides, we repealed the law against class-only marriages and betrothals decades ago. I can love who I want to and not care about what others think."  
"Yes," Takeru said. "But I'm still a freelancer. After this is over, I'll have to leave with Koushiro and the others. He is my employer, and it's my duty to work for him."  
The Princess smiled. "If you leave you'll be abandoning your duty."  
"Huh?" Takeru was perplexed.  
"My father, the Emperor, was impressed with what you and your group did for me, my brother, and the others. He was so impressed, in fact, that he hired Koushiro and his team to be the Ambloni Imperial Family's personal privateer group under the direct command of the Ambloni Imperial Family. In fact," she smiled. "There's your new uniform."  
Hikari pointed at a table. Takeru looked, on the table he saw a Dbrojan coolant suit made in the shape of a uniform. On the uniform was a special ensign. "You'll be with us, with me, for a long time."  
Takeru nodded. "I'm still not sure how I feel about you though."  
The Princess just leaned over and kissed him again. She pulled back and asked: "Still not sure?"  
"No," Takeru said. "But I'm thinking about it."  
The Princess smiled and kissed him on the cheek. She stood up and started toward the door. She smiled at him. "Let me know when you decide."  
She stepped out of the room, but just as the door started to close Takeru called out: "Hikari! I've decided."  
The door opened again and Hikari peeked in. "Yes?"  
"I'll give it a shot." Takeru said, the Princess beamed. "Get some rest." She said as she stepped back out of the room. Takeru smiled. "I'll definitely give it a shot."  
  
THE END  
  
Author's Note: WAHOO!!! I've completed my second story on FF.net, a feat for a slow typer like me. I thank the reviewers for their encouragement. Well, that's it for now. I'm taking a break from writing Anime/Digimon fics for now since I plan to write a few cartoon fics. I'm just out of ideas for Digimon fics, though I might write a sequel to this one if my idea for it completely materializes.  
  
MARAMING SALAMAT, MGA READERS! (That's Filipino for "Many thanks, readers!") 


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